Plow attachment



P 1960 R. .1. ALTGELT EIAL 2,953,211

PLOW ATTACHMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 19, 1956 P 1960 R. J. ALTGELT ETAL 2,953,211

PLOW ATTACHMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 19, 1956 INVENTORJ' #0001) M. 4:70:27 flxmmo 0,44: i0! BY ArraI/vb s United States Patent 6 PLOW ATTACHMENT Rudolph J. Altgelt, South Bend, Ind., and Harold Qale Rue, Shelbyville, Mich., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Dale Rue, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Filed Nov. 19, 1956, Ser. No. 623,117

1 Claim. (Cl. 172-736) The present invention relates to a plow attachment and, more particularly, to an auxiliary moldboard for improving the trash-burying efiiciency of a conventional plow moldb oard.

The problem of adequately covering surface trash, such as corn stalks, weeds, cover crops, etc., during plowing is one which plagues the farmer. To insure proper soil preparation and adequate decomposition of such trash, it must be completely buried by the soil turned during operation of a moldboard plow.

To enhance such trash burial, various forms of coverplates or auxiliary moldboards have been previously proposed. However, the devices of this type heretofore available suffer from several deficiencies, as follows:

(1) The coverplates are fitted to and superimposed on the upper moldboard edges. Unless an extremely accurate fit is obtained, a dirt-catching and trash-hanging edge results.

(2) The coverplate receives no support from the moldboard.

(3) The coverplate discharge end lies almost normal to the path of travel of the plow, resulting in abnormally high soil-to-board pressure and causing soil sticking.

(4) In extremely sticky or moldboardadherent soil, the coverplate can function more efiicien-tly as a jointer, i.e., in advance of the moldboard, than as an auxiliary moldboard, i.e., superimposed over the main moldboard. No previous coverplate is adaptable to both such uses.

It is, therefore, an important object of this invention to provide an improved auxiliary moldboard for a moldboard plow.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an auxiliary moldboard adapted to be fitted to moldboards of various shapes and sizes without custom fitting and without a resultant dirt-catching and trash-hanging edge therebetween.

It is a further object to provide a trash-burying coverplate which is partially supported by a primary plow moldboard.

Yet another object is the provision of an auxiliary moldboard in which the normally high soil-to-board pressure is materially reduced to prevent sticking of soil to the board.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a coverplate alternately utilizable as an auxiliary moldboard superimposed over the plow primary moldboard or as a jointer in advance of the primary moldboard.

On the drawings:

Figure l is a front elevational view of a plow provided with an auxiliary moldboard of the present invention;

fie 2,953,211

Figure 2 is a front perspective view illustrating the plow of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of the plow of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the plane 44 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the plane 55 of Figure 1; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view illustrating the plow of Figure 1 with the auxiliary moldboard in an adjusted position.

The auxiliary moldboard or coverplate of the present invention comprises the auxiliary moldboard proper indicated generally at 10 and a moldboard bracket indicated at 11 for securing the auxiliary moldboard to an adjustment crank 12. The adjustment crank 12 is in turn connected through an attachment bracket 13 to a plow indicated generally at 15.

While a specific plow 15 is illustrated in the drawings, it will be appreciated that the device of the present invention is utilizable with various types of moldboard plows, and the plow illustrated is merely representative of these various types.

The specific illustrated plow comprises a frog 16 which is secured through bolts 17 to a beam 18. Secured to one face of the frog by bolts 19 is a landside 20, while secured to the other face of the frog 16 is a lower plowshare 21 and a moldboard 22. The operation of this plow 15 will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the share 21 severing the soil beneath the surface thereof, the forward movement of the plow forcing the severed soil to travel upwardly along the moldboard 22. The moldboard is angularly related to the path of travel of the plow so that the general soil flow occurs in the direction of arrows 23 of Figure 1.

By operation of the plow 15, the soil is inverted and discharged from the rear end 22a of the moldboard. In the plowing of sod or trash-free soil, the moldboard 22 is generally efiective to invert the soil layer cut loose by the share 21 so that the surface layers of the soil are buried beneath the soil lower layers. However, in the plowing of land covered with surface trash, such as corn stalks, weeds, cover crops, etc., the inversion by operation of the moldboard alone is insufficient to fully bury the trash.

The auxiliary moldboard or coverplate 10 of the present invention is intended primarily to aid in covering this surface trash so that it may be buried for complete decomposition and proper soil preparation. More specifically, the moldboard 10 is adapted to be superimposed generally over the conventional plow moldboard 22. As best illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the moldboard 10 comprises a first substantially straight portion 25 which is provided with a depending marginal flange 26. This depending flange 26 terminates in a substantially vertical shoulder 27. The flange 26 is adapted to be inserted behind the upper edge of the moldboard 22. By inserting the flange 26 behind the moldboard 22, the difficulties of forming a perfect joint between the auxiliary moldboard 11) and the main moldboard 22 are avoided, since there is no mating engagement between the two edges, and the free upper edge of the primary moldboard 22 will not interfere with proper soil and trash flow 101' transfer from the primary moldboard 22 to the auxiliary Patented Sept. 20, 1960' moldboard 10. The vertical dimension of the shoulder 27 determines the extent to which the flange 26 can be inserted behind the upper edge of the moldboard 22, and

the outer arcuate portion 28 of the moldboard pro- .of the secondary moldboard to the arcuaterear portion 28 thereof.

, The outer arcuate portion 28 of the moldboard curves laterally with increasing abruptness until the outer terminal end portions 29 of the auxiliary moldboard lie substantially normal to the path of travel of the plow, as best seen in Figures 2 and 3. It will be appreciated that this abrupt turning movement of the soil by'the auxiliary moldboard 10 creates substantial forces which act normally to the surface of the moldboard 10 and which force the dirt into the moldboard surface. To prevent sticking of the dirt to theauxiliary moldboard 10 in this area of greatest pressure, the auxiliary moldboard is provided with an outwardly opening notch 30 which reduces the area of the moldboard which is subjected to this pressure and which accommodates the relief of this pressure by allowing the dirt to fall through the notch. The extent of the notch 30 is such that it will 7 not readily accommodate the flow therethrough of corn stalks, weeds and similar trash, so this notch does not materially impede the. trash conveying and inverting properties of the secondary moldboard 10.

The secondary moldboard 10 is secured in its positions illustrated in the drawings by means of a bracket 11, illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawings. This bracket 11 is secured to the auxiliary moldboard by plow bolts 31 which connect the moldboard to a main bracket casting 32. This main casting 32 includes an integrally formed and rearwardly directed upper flange 33 which terminates in an upwardly directed lip 34 apertured as at 35. A second lower lip 36 is formed in the casting 32 to provide a rearwardly opening notch 37 into which is inserted a clamping arm 38 having a medial, generally sernicylindrical recess 39 which registers With a similar recess 40 formed in the upper flange 33. These recesses 39 and 40 are provided with integral, longitudinally-extending teeth 41 which are adapted to engage the outer periphery of the adjustment crank 12. The teeth 41 are urged into the adjustment crank peripheral portions by a bolt 42 having a head 43 reacting against the terminal end of the arm 38 and a nut 44 reacting against the lip 34 of the flange 33.

The bracket 11 is oriented on the board 10, so that the recesses 39 and 40 extend generally longitudinally of the board to receive one end 12a of the crank 12. The other end 12b of the crank 12 lies substantially normal to the end 12a thereof and is adapted to be received by the beam bracket 13.

This beam bracket 13 comprises a pair of clamping plates 45 and 46 disposed on opposite sides of the beam 18 and is adapted to be clamped to the beam by suitable means, as by bolts 47. The plate 46 is provided with a lower integral flange 48 which has a longitudinally extending recess 49 adapted to receive the end 12b of the crank 12, and another clamping plate 50 is pivotally connected to the plate 46, the plate 50 havingarecess '50atherein similar to the recess 49. The recesses 49 and 50a of the bracket 13 are preferably provided with longitudinal teeth similar to the teeth 41 hereinbefore described, and these teeth are urged into biting engagementwith the end 12b of the crank 12, as by bolts 51. It will be readily appreciated that the adjustment crank 12 is adjustable both longitudinally and rotationally with respect to either of the brackets 11 Q1 l3so that the moldboard may be positioned in its illustrated positions with respect to the moldboard 22.

As hereinbefore described, the moldboard 10 is conventionally used in its position generally overlying the main moldboard 22, but the secondary moldboard 10 may also be utilized in a jointer position, as illustrated in Figure 6.

In this position, the forward or flanged end 26' of the moldboard 10 is depressed and is positioned in advance of the upper forward or shin edge of the moldboard intermediate the moldboard 22 and a rolling coulter 55. Also, the board is tilted about the axis of the crank arm end 12a, so that the coverplate 10 deflects trash, stubble, and the surface soil layer downwardly in the path of travel of the main moldboard 22. This coulter is carried by a conventional fork indicated generally at '56 and suspended from the beam 18. With the auxiliary moldboard in its position of Figure 6, the board 10 acts as a jointer in removing surface portions of the furrow before these portions of the furrow'have been engaged by the moldboard. We have found that'this position may be advantageously utilized in extremely sticky soils with the surface trash being inverted by the auxiliary moldboard before engagement of the remainder of the soil with the primary moldboard 22. This positioning of the auxiliary moldboard is made possible by the eflective universal joint provided by two brackets 11 and 13 and the adjust ment crank 12.

Thus, it will be seen that the auxiliary moldboard serves a dual purpose. The elongated crank arm 12 and the clamps 11 and 13 accommodate the mounting of the' board 10 in either its superimposed position of Figures 1-5 or its advanced jointer position of Figure 6. The tilting motions provided by the clamps 11 and 13 and the telescopic arm-to-clamp movement yields an accurate, truly universal adjustment for the auxiliary moldboard.

The end result of the use of the auxiliary moldboard or coverplate is the same regardless of its use position. In either event, the trash is inverted and placed in front of the primary or main moldboard for covering by the normal moldboard operation. The free end portion 28 of the board 10 is provided with a slight helical twist, as well as an arcuate forward bend so that the board functions to throw trash, stubble, and the like downwardly, no matter which position the board occupies.

The positioning of the flange 26 behind the primary moldboard 22 affords support for the board 10, while also eliminating the need for custom fitting two mating surfaces. The notch 30 relieves soil pressure on the board, while accommodating travel of trash along the length of the board 10. Since the board 10 is helically twisted along its length, the lower edge 30b of the notch 30 is positioned below and behind the upper edge 30a and any hangingqip of trash or stubble in the.

notch is prevented. V

For the reasons hereinbefore recited, it will be appreciated that this invention provides a new, improved and eflicient plow coverplate or auxiliary moldboard.

We claim: I

An auxiliary moldboard for attachment to a plow to be superimposed generally over the plowmain moldboard, comprising in combination: a pair of forwardly and rearwardly spaced tabs extending downwardly from and coplanar with the lower edge of the leading portion of said auxiliary moldboard, said tabs being inserted behind the upper edge of the main moldboard so that the lower edge of the leading portion of the auxiliary moldboard is below andbehind the leading portionof the upper edge of the main moldboard, said auxiliary and main moldboards being substantially contiguous adjacent the leading portions of their lower and upper edges, respectively, whereby a relief area is provided immediately above the leading portion of the upper edge of said main moldboard, the medial portion of the lower edge of said 5 auxiliary moldboard crossing over and engaging the References Cited in the file of this patent upper edge of the main moldboard adjacent the rearmost one of said tabs, said auxiliary moldboard having an UNITED STATES PATENTS arcuate trailing portion which lies in front of the main 463,624 Finegan Nov. 24, 1894 moldboard at a location spaced rearwardly from the 5 550,318 Daniel Nov. 26, 1895 leading portion thereof and which extends substantially 870,007 Amundsen Nov. 5, 1907 normal to the path of travel of the plow; and means for 1,026,575 Frazer May 14, 1912 holding said auxiliary moldboard fixedly in position with 1,289,254 Pecore Dec, 31, 1918 said tabs behind and contacting the upper leading por- 2,672,805 Longenbach Mar. 23, 1954 tion of said main moldboard. 10 2,712,784 Bauer July 12, 1955 

